I looked at the sleeping form of Starlight, my [Observe] revealed that if I wasn't an Alicorn I would've been very hard-pressed to actually do anything against this monster other than amusing her with my pitiful attempts. She was literally the highest Level I have ever saw in here, and I could see how the fuck did she pull that shit with Twilight and how she could match her blow for blow for so long, she may have possessed less in terms of raw Mana but she obviously made-up for it with Skill and determination. Her Stats were insane, she actually managed to grind herself twenty-eight additional Points and that was when she probably worked her ass off while accomplishing task after task. It was hard for her to get more Points for INT and WIS than for others and I wasn't sure just where all the Points went so it was kind of hard to judge what she did to gain such a high Level of Power with her only being fucking nineteen.

[ID Create]

I deployed another Illusion Barrier and this time I took her with me, she didn't wake up but at the same time I could see a small frown appearing on her face. Even in her sleep she could tell that something about her surrounding changed and that the World around her felt off, or at least that was what I thought it was all about as she relaxed again and kept sleeping. I made sure to keep [Observe] going so I would be ready for whatever shit she may pull out, being able to read emotions of the person you was talking to helped and I could even be considered something akin of an Empath from a far away and with a pair of very bad glasses. But I was rambling again and it was time to have a chat with the local Mayor and the Founder of this creepy place...

Suddenly another Window popped out.

Quest Alert
Redemption of the Misguided: Make Starlight Glimmer turn away from the Path of Destruction!
Persuade Starlight Glimmer to abandon her Crusade against Cutie Marks and reject her Twisted Impression about Friendship.
Completion Award: 20,000 EXP; +5,000 Reputation with Starlight Glimmer
Additional Completion Award: [?]
Completion Failure: -50,000 Reputation with Starlight Glimmer

'... On one hand I would have a chance to gain a freaking ton of Experience, on the other hand there is a big chance of me having to fight a Juggernaut-Unicorn that if perfectly fit to Ascend to Alicornhood with just a little push.' I weighted my options and accepted the Quest, there simply wasn't even a chance that I would simply walk away here. Her fucking up the Timeline would end with me in a far worse position than before, and that was one of the things that I honestly didn't want to experience right now. I remembered the one with Tirek, the one with Discord and the one with Nightmare Moon... Yeah, I was going to either beat all the shit out of her and then set her brains straight, or I will beat her up, cut off her horn and then drop her into Tartarus so she won't bother anyone in the future no matter what. I noticed a change in her Window, her Status has changed and without it actually cluing me in I would've missed her waking up.

"I know that you're awake." I stated in a flat tone. "Pretending is meaningless and will only result in wasting time that we can spend talking."

She opened her eyes and instantly narrowed them at me, I could see her taking in every detail about me and roaming all over my body while searching for something that she could probably use to identify me. I could see her eyes widening slightly as she noticed that I was an Alicorn, but the girl had the self-control of a monk and it took her about a second to compose herself again. I know that I didn't look very intimidating right now, I wore a black top that was stretched over my chest along with jeans-shorts and sandals on a barefoot. I didn't project the image of a Noble Princess and there was no air of benevolence that Celestia perfected to a form of art over the years, I couldn't look at myself from the others' point of view so I could only guess what impression I was giving off with my flat and emotionless face and my arms crossed under my chest. Nonetheless, Starlight kept her act up and put a perfect mask of innocent shock as she sat up on her bed but kept the cover over her chest, her eyes wide and only [Observe] telling me that this was all an act.

"I wasn't aware that there was another Princess in Equestria." I could feel a very slight pulse of Magic coming from her, the barely noticeable shimmer surrounding her horn.

"Drop the act, Starlight." I answered. "There is no point in keeping it up with me, if you're trying for the sake of the whole gig you have going with the Cutie Marks being stolen and you keeping your own then don't bother as I know the truth."

This time her eyes widened even further and her face froze in that fake expression of wonder, I could practically hear as the gears inside her head came to a screeching halt and then went into overdrive. She was more shocked than she showed, her whole plan was heavily rooted into the fact that nobody would find out about her keeping her own hip-stamp while giving the others some crappy replacements. This was so close to the 'The Legend of Korra' that I was honestly not sure if I would be surprised if it will turn out that she knows how to control blood, but it was a thought for another time that didn't have a trigger-happy Unicorn very close to blasting me with her Magic. If my memory served me right then she had a way to entrap others in some kind of crystalline prisons, Twilight could do so too and actually was able to catch Starlight once before she freed herself with one blast. Twilight only really fought once, and it was against Tirek where she literally was performing a creative landscaping with all the Power of other Alicorns, against Starlight her performance was kind of weak and pathetic in comparison.

"And what do you know?" Her mask melted off and she stared at me with an angry frown.

"I know a lot more than others." Playing this game was going to suck so much. "For example, I know why are you doing it, and I also know that you really shouldn't as it will only backfire upon you in the end. I'm not going to read a moral lesson here, you chose your own path and that was your own decision so all what will come out of it is entirely your fault."

"Is that a threat?" I could see the slight shimmer of Magic around her horn becoming slightly more pronounced. "Who are you exactly anyway? There surely wasn't an announcement of a new Princess taking up the mantle, so I can only assume that either the horn or the wings, or both of them together are fake."

"No, they're quite real." To demonstrate my point I lit up my horn, and then with a flap of my wings lifted myself into the air. "And there wasn't any announcement done because I'm not a Princess, my status as an Alicorn doesn't matter considering that I'm not going to go public with it."

That actually made Starlight blink, her mind actually short-circuiting for a moment as she tried to process what I just said. I stop my little light show and descended back onto the wooden floor, it was kind of amusing seeing her trying to come up with a decision on what to comment from my display and statement. Even her little build-up vanished from the lack of concentration, apparently coming to a decision she looked at me with far more intensity than before.

"What do you want?" She asked in a flat voice. "You obviously here not for a pleasant chat."

"No matter how corny it will sound, but I'm here to help you." I couldn't care less about unrepentant criminals and monsters like Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Tirek, but simply putting down someone like Starlight wasn't something I could do. "You're obviously doing it for a reason, I did some digging and I have a pretty good idea why you're doing it. But it is always better to hear from the source so to speak, and please leave the bullshit about 'Equality' that you spew all around to make the Ponies leave their Cutie Marks to you."

"What are you..." She began but I cut her off.

"You can't lie to me, I would know if you do." That wasn't actually a lie so to speak, but at the same time, it wasn't all truth. "What I want to know is why such a gifted Unicorn as you managed to drive herself to the point that she's all but crumbling from the inside, that she's so afraid that she prefers loneliness to actually making bonds with others."

Her eyes were wide as she looked at me, I probably hit several nails on the head right her and right now and it made her uncomfortable. Good, I needed to make her feel out of her comfort zone and force her to spill the beans about Sunburst and how they were separated in childhood. I was kind of pissed at him too, because of his inability to actually face his own insecurities he didn't write to Starlight and therefore left her to stew in her own misery and isolation. This was kind of a dick move, I'm not even sure if he was even her friend to begin with or not as what he did wasn't very 'Friendship is Magic' to me.

"And how do you know that?" There was steel in her voice, anger shimmering under the carefully woven mask of calm serenity. "How do you know anything about me? We have never met, and I'm sure that there wasn't very much you could've found out about me from talking with the other occupants of this town."

"I didn't, I know about you from another source." I wasn't going to make it easier for myself, but admitting this would open out other possibilities. "But that's not what we should be talking about right now, my argument here is you either cease your actions of stealing Cutie Marks and face your problems like an adult..."

"Or?" She asked.

A shimmer around her horn returned but then vanished as my right arm moved faster than she anticipated and a sharp edge of my blade pressed against the base of her horn. It was a pure gambit here, I watched as Starlight's expression froze.

"Or I will fight you, and the outcome won't be as pretty as you think it would be." I wasn't going to actually do any lasting damage, but, at the same time, I had no intentions of pulling punches. "But you should know the difference between me and any other opponent you could ever face among the Ponies, I always fight with the intent to kill."

I could see her irises dilate at the last part, fear becoming far more prominent in her emotions and I could tell that the statement really shook her. I'm pretty sure that nobody ever came to her with the open desire to kill her, this was something she had never faced before and it created pressure that I was using to draw her out even more. I didn't want to talk with Starlight while she was still holding herself behind the walls that she herself built, I was going to force her to get out if only to stay alive and face me. I didn't have Twilight's naivety and compassion, but even then I had to make due with what I had on hand and right now it was a very sharp sword back-up by a very new Alicorn that had not idea how to use her Power efficiently. My opponent didn't know it, and so I was going to bluff my way through this crappy situation till the end.

"You..." She whispered, but not quiet enough for me to miss it.

"I'm aware of your desire for the Cutie Marks to be gone, how the difference between Ponies will leave them alone and separated." I spoke and she listened. "You think that having a hip-stamp makes someone better than the other, or makes them feel superior due to the fact that they have a better capability to perform some particular work. This is bullshit and even you know it, I'm pretty sure that if we dig a little deeper we will find something that will really open your heart to me, right?"

"What do you think you're looking for?" She was now glaring at me, fear apparently forgotten as I started poking near the wound. "I created this place, I made them happy and showed them what it was like be equal to others! Be the same and be friends without having to fight off their own differences!"

"And why don't I believe you." It wasn't a question. "Starlight, you really have a great potential in you, I can sense Magic and you have a lot of Mana that with the fact that you manage to pull out the whole scheme makes you even more incredible. I can honestly say that you're one of the most powerful Unicorns I have ever seen, there are only three to my knowledge that I can say were better." My tone was as even and as flat as before. "And only one of them was better than you in both Skill and Power departments, other two were beating you only in Power and that says a lot."

"So what?" I can see that fear was still there, but it was now used to fuel her anger. "I can sense Magic too, and for an Alicorn you aren't all that special."

I lifted my eyebrow, she obviously met Celestia mastering that particular Skill and I was not even a grain of sand to her mountain when it came to pure raw Power. My theory was that she could only suppress it so much before simply not having the capability anymore, what Starlight sensed was the leak that simply was left out due to Sunbutt simply being unable to stop it with how much she had to hold back all the time. Me being overwhelmed even by that tiny amount? That was really scary.

"Yes, I'm not anything special." There was no point in denying it. "But it doesn't really matter right now, does it? Right now I'm the one with the sword against your throat, so that means I can have no Magic whatsoever and still be able to hold your attention." I pressed the blade a little bit harder to the skin on the left side of her neck. "Am I right?"

This time she stopped herself from answering, her skin went a little bit paler as she fearfully glanced at the blade without moving her head so not to risk being beheaded. The whole situation was far from what she was used to, far from what she was comfortable with and as far as the normal interactions in Equestria went. I brought something new onto the table, I reminded Starlight that she was mortal and that there were things in this world that could end her life prematurely, and I was one of those things right now. It was nothing more than a brutal wake-up call for a Pony that spent too much time in misery, too much time alone and too much time feeling anger at something she couldn't properly explain and fear at something she couldn't properly comprehend.

I let my sword vanish.

'Maybe all these Points in INT and WIS actually did me some good, it's a lot easier to think things like these through.' I resisted the urge to chuckle, it wasn't a time nor it wasn't a place to break my mask like that. Right now I was trying to force her see and to understand, this wasn't a game she was playing and this wasn't a simple mistake she was making.

"What do you want?" She looked me right in the eyes.

"Move on." I said. "He left, and it had nothing to do with a Cutie Mark."

Her eyes widened, and she stiffed. This was a low blow, but everything was fair when you was trying to save your own ass from being erased from the Time-Stream! I wasn't going to pull punches, this was going to hurt no matter what and I was going to make it stick no matter how deep I will need to bash it into her skull.

"How do you...?" She wasn't able to finish.

"I know things, some little digging was all it took." I looked at her with a somber expression. "He left and you was all alone, right?"

"It took him away from me." There was still anger in her voice, she averted her gaze and looked at her hands that were still clutching the covers. "Cutie Mark appeared and tore him away, he was my friend and that blasted thing took him away from! We were together, doing everything side-by-side and after he gained that blasted thing it all crashed and burned!"

"I know how you feel." She tightened her hold on the covers. "I would never be able to understand how it was for you, but at the same time, I can see how it made you feel and therefore I know what it felt back then. You felt hurt, cold, alone, there was nothing left and all that you remembered about him suddenly turned cold and distant."

"You speak as if you experienced something like that." She snarked at me.

"Something like that, but mine was just my own fault for not seeing how shitty the person I thought was my friend really was." I admitted with a shrug. "Little self-absorbed bitch didn't even acknowledge my existence, and now I'm just feeling silly for ever thinking of her like that." I snorted, Moony really wanted to be friends with Twilight and saw as a kinder spirit. "But what you had with Sunburst was real, you both were seeing each other as friends and there wasn't anything that stood between you two."

"He was so good at Magic, and I was just dragging behind." She mumbled.

"No, you were walking side by side." I tried to recall everything I could remember about the whole mess. "It was just that each of you could stumble only for the other to not let you fall, that was what friendship is about and that was what you and he had. You chose to hold onto that, to never let go and you never moved forward since then, that's why you can't feel the same as you did all those years ago. Tell me, did he ever bragged about his Skill, did he ever lord his superiority over you or anyone else?"

"No." She didn't move.

"And you still feel angry about him leave you, right?" I couldn't see her face, but with [Observe] I didn't need to. "He moved forward, you decided to hold onto the past and reject the future that awaited you at the next turn. You refused to open up again, in fear that the pain that he caused you will only be felt again when someone will tear the barely healing the wound on your heart open again. You locked yourself up, put your life into studying Magic and put together a small perfect society that you made you feel safe as nobody could betray you here again as they were all the same. Am I right?"

"Ho do you know?" She asked, her voice sounded empty. "Ho do you know anything of this?"

"If I was to tell you, you won't believe me." I said with a snort. "More importantly, I want to ask you the question that you never asked yourself in fear of what you will find if you'll try to search for an answer." She slowly lifted her head and looked me directly into the eyes. "What's next? What are you going to do next? You locked yourself into a fake world, an illusion of your own creation that lets you forget about the pain and fear and just live your life day after day while feeling the same anger and pain as before. The only thing you did was preventing it from getting worse, it will never leave if you won't let it go and move on." There was something in her eyes, I couldn't tell, but the Window told me that she felt fear and a slowly growing amount of despair. "What will you do when the illusion will break?"

There was no warning, and I honestly didn't need one as I could easily avoid what happened next but decided against it. Starlight jumped from the bed and literally tackled me, with a grunt I fell back and landed on my back onto the floor with the Unicorn straddling my waist while wearing nothing but a white nighty and a pair of white panties. I honestly didn't care how erotic it may have looked like from the side as her right fist crashed directly into my left cheek, with my high VIT I also gained resistance to damage and right now it was put to a test she Starlight delivered blow after blow to my face. My nose, forehead, cheeks, chin, she obviously didn't care about the target as long as her punches would connect to at least some part of me. They stung, but I didn't care as the girl grunted in effort and delivered a strong blow right between my eyes.

"Why!?" She screamed. "You came here! You threatened me! You mocked all I did and then you just crushed what little I still had, all this for what!?"

I could see tears starting to gather in her eyes, she was venting off on me and I was letting her go as long as she would need to. Right now she was letting out all what was left inside her, all the pain and anger, all the hate and misery that were accumulating inside her for years were now bursting out. She wouldn't be able to bottle them up anymore, I pushed her over the edge and now there was no turning back, all I had to do was now to make her let it all out.

She didn't react well to my silence and her horn burst to life, her Magic erupted akin of a blowtorch and started gathering to form a Spell. I didn't wait for it to finish, my right hand lashed out and my palm connected to her chin, forcing her head up and backward and by that screwing up her aim. The stream of Mana roared to life and I saw as the part of the ceiling suddenly was missing as the beam tore a watermelon-size hole in it with its edges blackened and smoking. This was far from what could be called a safe Spell, she wasn't going to simply disable me and that meant that I would need to actually move so not to lose something that a good sleep won't be able to restore. I didn't wait for her to recover as I triggered the [Teleportation] and appeared right over the main street of her little town, about thirty meters over the ground.

I grabbed her left ankle and twisted around while using my now freed wings for leverage and maneuvering. With a yelp Starlight was sent flying as I released my hold on her, I had to give her actual bonus points for reflexes as right before she was about to collide with a house her Magic coated her whole body and prevented her from actually getting hurt. But it didn't stop her from crashing through the roof and probably right through the first floor of the building, the momentum was strong enough but I couldn't be sure. Without a word I let myself hover in the air, she wasn't dead and I was pretty sure that she wasn't even hurt so she was to going to get up pretty soon.

True to my prediction I saw as a Light Turquoise light flared inside the hole and then next thing I knew was that Starlight shot like a shining comet from the hole while being surrounded by her own Magical Aura. Her face was full of anger and desperation, but, at the same time, the tears that were leaking down her cheeks spoke that I again hit the nail on the head. I didn't react fast enough, the display of Magic actually stunned me a little, but it was enough for her to cover the distance between us and appear just a little bit over me. What followed next was a bright flash of Magic and me feeling as if a battery ram crashed right into my diaphragm, I was sent flying backward while keeping myself from reacting to pain by pulling every scrap of [Gamer's Mind] onto the surface. I felt as my back connected with the wall of the building, the less durable surface gave in and my body tore through it without much problem, next wall followed as not enough of my momentum bleed out for something like that to stop me. The ground didn't yield much but I still made a trench about ten meters in length before stopping, I could see a message appearing right in front of my face I as got up without showing even the tiniest indication of pain that I currently felt.

'Fuck you [Physical Endurance]! I could use you fucking ages ago!' Mentally I was cursing up a storm. 'Fuck! What the Hell did she use to hit me with?! I think my ribcage shattered from the impact!' I stood up and with a beat of my wings I shot up into the sky, my sword once again appearing in my hand as I hovered at the same level as Starlight. She didn't look winded at all, her Stats obviously were there not for show and the amount of force that she generated with one Spell would've killed anyone else and turned their body into a fucking paste. She wasn't pulling punches here, and that was good as I wasn't going to do that either. Without uttering a word I lifted my left hand, my index finger pointing directly at her, I could see as she tensed in preparation for oncoming the attack but it was useless as I was simply faster.

[Cero]

A wide beam of Mana roared to life, between the moment of it being launched and it connecting with its target I could see Starlight's eyes widening and the Magic covering her body glowing brighter. I could see her as the attack was far wider than her body and covered her whole, but I could tell that she wasn't dead or actually seriously hurt by the force of my [Cero]. As the attack died down I could see her still hovering where she was, the Aura surrounding her dimmed slightly and she lowered her arms, that she crossed in front of her face, slightly.

"This is all?" I asked. "I'm unimpressed." With a quick application of [Teleportation] I appeared right behind her. "You're wide open."

I lashed out with my sword, the sharp edge of the blade connecting to her left side and I could hear her grunting as her shielding wasn't able to absorb the force of the blow and she was sent flying towards the ground with a breakneck speed. While she was using Magic to protect herself, I tanked her blow with my won durability and as I saw her flipping and rolling over while tearing another gorge in the earth I decided that I really mast learn how she did it. Apparently, Starlight was better than I expected as she managed to actually even herself and with a flip land on her bare feet, and even then the momentum still made her slid a couple more meters backward. I didn't waste any time and teleported again, this time I appeared right in front of her a little bit above, my sword coming down on her in a horizontal arc with enough force to cut stone like butter.

My perception, boosted by my high DEX, left me with unique view how Starlight's eyes narrowed and she lashed out with her own punch. The front part of her right fist became covered in a far denser glow of her Magic as her knuckles connected to my blade and a resulting shockwave blew away all the dust that she fall lifted from the ground and a crater formed under her feet as the ground gave away before her Magically Reinforced body. I could see her struggling to push back but my strength was far above hers and I was pretty sure that her Spell wasn't exactly made to boost her physical performance and it was just a very good side effect of it. This was getting me nowhere, I really needed to learn something for a fast movement that isn't [Teleprotation], it was a pain to maneuver myself like that without actually being able to properly adjust to the new surrounding in time.

'And I'm an idiot.' Apparently, I lost a part of my brain somewhere because I forgot that I wasn't the only one who knew how to teleport. Starlight suddenly vanished with a flash of Magic and I barely was able to balance myself so not to fall flat on my face from the loss of an opposing force against my sword. I straightened myself just in time to twist around and raise my sword to block a foot that would've impacted the back of my head and probably drove my head into the ground. Good thing my [Magic Sense] picked upon the approaching source of Mana, back thing that I only knew her position and the actual block was pure dumb luck altogether. My feet dug into the earth as I pushed the Magically Infused drop-kick back, making Starlight fly back but stop midair, her eyes locked on me as I straightened myself again.

Without a warning I vanished again and appeared right in front of her, my blade shooting forward to stab her directly into her stomach but her shielding held and she was just thrown backward with a surprised and slightly pained expression. I didn't let her recover and painted my left index finger at her, a ball of Mana already hovering above the tip.

[Cero]

Wide, conical beam of Magic roared to life and crashed into the still moving Starlight, I could see her eye widening and then the attack covered her completely. It lasted only for several seconds and when I died I could see the damage done, which wasn't exactly much as she was mostly unharmed with her shielding shining rather brightly and her hovering in place while slightly out of breath. She wasn't exhausted, I could sense a lot of Mana coming from her, but the last attack caught her by surprise and therefore she was more shocked than anything else. I didn't bother to wait and shot forward with all the speed I had, for someone who actually had a rather lacking flight-time I think I was pretty decent and my assault certainly was fast enough to catch the girl unaware. I reached out with my left hand and my palm covered her face, with a heave I pushed and threw her forward with all the strength I had right now without the utilization of [Murciélago].

Starlight shot forward as a bright missile, her path taking her away from the town and towards the mountains. I teleported right over her flying form and delivered another blow with my sword, this horizontal slash sent her tumbling through the air and right into the side of the mountain. The impact created a sizable crater, she managed to catch herself before she would've started falling and raised her head. With another teleport I appeared right in front of her, our eyes meeting for a moment right before herself widened as suddenly my lift index finger was right in front of her face.

[Cero]

This time the attack created a powerful explosion that tore apart a huge chunk of the mountain, the backslash of the blast didn't bother me as the pieces of rocks and debris were bouncing off my skin without causing any harm. The explosion itself shook me slightly, as the force of my own attack protected me and I didn't have a scratch on me. I didn't have to wait for the dust to settle or for the rocks to stop falling as I felt the gathering of Mana behind me and used [Teleportation] to avoid a melon-sized ball of Magic create a perfectly round hole in the solid rock. Starlight was back in the fight and apparently really pissed about me tossing her around like that.

Next two spheres did a turn and shot directly towards me, apparently, they were either remotely controlled or passed some kind of a guidance system. This was becoming very problematic, and I had no tricks to pull out of my ass while my opponent was only warming up right now. I teleported again to avoid the attack and appeared right above the source of Mana, but as soon as I looked down I felt a very strong spike from it and then everything around me was light as I apparently was just blown up.

'Tricky bitch.' I grimaced and then teleported again, this time outside of the dust cloud and away from the still incoming projectiles. I couldn't sense shit right now, but, at the same time, I knew that she couldn't have hidden her Magic from my senses as it was literally impossible. Pony's body always had some of the Mana close to the surface that a good enough sensor could detect, there was no such thing as fully suppressing your Magic as you always had it in you and you could only hide your Power from someone but your presence would still be detectable. So there was no way that I could simply lose her, and that meant that she somehow masked her own presence which would require some incredibly powerful Artifact or a very clever tactic.

My eyes widened as I was almost ready to smack myself, this was clever and very hard to pull off but this girl apparently was just that good. I teleported again and appeared right over the two flying orbs of Mana, my leg coming down in a powerful axe-kick and connecting with what on the first glance would be an empty place right behind the orbs but a broken Illusion Spell revealed Starlight who took the hit right onto her back. Using her own powerful attack to cover her presence was a damn good move, but I knew that she had only her underwear on and had no access to any Artifacts that would let her pull a disappearing trick so it was an easy guess. The blow came with enough force that the impact created a crater several meters in diameter, the orbs that were created by her Magic vanished as she lost concentration on them.

I teleported again and appeared right at the edge of the crater, hovering about a meter above the ground. I descended as I heard Starlight coughing inside the cloud of dust, right after my feet touched the ground I made a powerful flap of my wings and blew the cloud away. She was standing in the center of the crater, the glow surrounding her body almost unnoticeable as she coughed a couple more times and then looked at me.

"What will happen next?" She aked.

"Depends on you." I shrugged.

"... I would have to let them go, am I?" She sounded bitter, I could see tears starting to gether in her eyes. "I would have to let go."

"Yes." I started walking towards her, making sure not to stumble and fall down. "But look at the bright side, you'll be able to finally have the real thing."

"Why would you want someone like me?" She asked, tears streaming down her face as the Magic, that was surrounding her, winked out of existence. "I did all that and would've done it again and again, I'm not sure that I even deserve it anymore. Even the illusion of it."

"Tough luck then, you're coming with me anyway." I dispelled my sword and put my hands behind my back. "I have others that you would need to meet, they will be glad to have another friend around. Twinkleshine would probably start asking you all sorts of questions, maybe will try to put you in some weird constume that will make you look like an Evil Overlady." I chuckled. "Minuette will pull you into something with a lot of running, she's energetic like that and will get up all pumped-up for action in no time." I stopped right in front of her. "Lemon Hearts will just call you stupid for thinking that they won't accept you and then will pull you into a hug so you won't feel so afraid and alone."

"I will have to tell them, won't I?" She looked down at her feet. "About everything? The town? The whole deal with Cutie Marks?"

"There're no secrets between friends." I know that I sounded hipocritical here, but who cares? "It's not like it will mean anything in the end, you had a rough patch in your life and did some stupid things that could've been avoided but weren't. But what is important that it will be in the past, that it will be something that came and gone and therefore it won't be important as you already know that it was wrong. Past doesn't matter, if you're going to keep moving forward then everything with time will become your past and the only thing that will remain with us are memories and the gained experience that will prevent us from making similar mistakes in the future."

"... I don't know what to do." I could hear her voice breaking, tears were falling onto the ground as we stood in the crater. "I don't know what will I have to do."

"Nothing." I said without even blinking. "Just be yourself."

"... Just like that?" She mumbled and looked up.

"Yes." For the first time since I introduced myself I let [Gamer's Mind] slip a little and let a small smile appear on my face. "Just like that."

Next thing I knew was that I was being hugged by crying and sobbing nineteen years old, she buried her face in my chest and just cried. I wrapped my hands around her, just holding her was more than enough as she tightened her hold on me and just kept sobbing. I entertained the idea of actually teleporting us to her house, but decided against it as I simply stood there and let my top soak-up all the waterworks. I quick use of [Observe] made me see that right now almost all the anger was simply gone from her and only pain, fear and grief still festered in her heart. Well, at least I managed to solve one problem, all I have left was to take care of an emotionally vulnerable girl that just had all the wounds on her heart torn open and was openly sobbing into my chest while being afraid and confused about what will be happening to her.

"Thank you." It came as nothing more than a whisper, but I still heard it.

In response I just put my left hand on the back of her head and held her closer, I had all day and it didn't really matter how long will it take for me to calm her down right now. All that mattered was to make sure that Starlight won't feel alone anymore.

I knew that the vault where the Cutie Marks were kept was huge, but I have never imagined just how tall it was. The whole thing was made out of a strange glass with each shelf containing dozens of small cells that had floating hip-stamps in them. Not all of them were actually occupied, but that was basically telling me that Starlight planned ahead and made sure that there will be free space if there will be new arrivals into her small town. I looked over the whole thing, the symbol of 'Equality' that was drawn on the top part of the vault irked me but I held back the disgusted expression and looked over to Starlight whole was staring at her creation with an unreadable expression.

"That's all of them?" I asked.

My question snapped the Unicorn out of her trance and she nodded.

"This is from the whole population of the town, the Spells I weaved in it prevents anyone but me from opening it." She answered. "The containment measures weren't that hard to create, Cutie Marks doesn't have all the much Power in them after all."

"Good." I stepped back a little and looked at her. "Are you ready?"

"Yes." She nodded.

Her horn came alight and, with a sudden flare, the glass that was containing the floating hip-stamps shattered into million little pieces. They weren't really corporal, just a Spell in a physical form that was made to hold them in place, and therefore as soon as the integrity was breached the whole thing crumbled and vanished in wisps of Mana. What happened next wasn't something that I could properly describe, the release of Cutie Marks was beautiful as each and every one of them shot forward to return to their rightful owners like multicolored Magical comets. They weren't going in straight lines either, all of them moving in one general direction but each making their own way and twisting and turning in the air as if they were happy to finally be free and able to go home. From the corner of my eye I saw Starlight watching the whole thing with a blank expression as if she couldn't believe what was happening before her eyes and how everything she did came undone with a simple Spell.

"Lets go." I said as the last Mark flew away. "There will be some confusion and panic in town and you will need to be presentable to explain it to the population." She was still wearing only her panties and a nighty. "It won't do for you to explain everything while in the underwear."

Starlight blinked and then looked at me with a confused expression, it took several minutes for her brain to process what I said. Her eyes widened she released a strange squawk as she looked down and noticed her still rather minimal attire, it only made me smirk a little as the girl looked at me with a blush.

"Lets... Lets just go." She mumbled.

"Oh, don't worry, there is nothing for you to be ashamed off!" I couldn't help but tease her a little. "You obviously have it where it counts."

I was answered with an embarrassed squeak and Starlight quickening her pace towards the exit of the cave, her blush was almost glowing in the darkness of the cavern. These Ponies were so damn innocent that I'm not sure if I will ever run out of the material to get them to blush, and I think I found my new favorite pastime! I chuckled and walked after her while taking one last glance at the now empty vault and at the broken remain of the 'Staff of Sameness', nobody was going to get hurt by these things anymore.

I never actually thought about what Starlight was going to say to her citizens, the ones she basically manipulated and then left to suffer in what can only be a big fat lie made by a desperate girl. I actually have to admit that I was impressed with her, the makeup she wore made her look older and more mature than she really was and that spoke volumes when I couldn't even see her real age anymore after she put on her dress and did her hair in a high ponytail. I actually didn't bother with attending the town meeting and just observe it from Starlight's bedroom's window, if something would go south I could just teleport to her and even the odds pretty quickly. I listened to her speech and I kind of felt bad for her, I knew that it was what had to be done but that fact didn't stop me from feeling like a bitch for forcing her to go through this.

She was explaining things to the citizens for about ten minutes now and so far nobody started breaking out torches and pitchforks, so I could only assume that it wouldn't get to that. Ponies weren't malicious by nature, so I'm pretty sure that they won;y lynch her for the whole mess, but at the same time I knew that there were things that I honestly felt were really out of order with this species. The whole mess with Zecora spoke volumes about how fearful and xenophobic they were, I honestly felt like slugging the Main Six right into the kissers for their prejudice and irrational fear. Ignorance and superstition, they’re like twin idiots running rampant throughout the land.

I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose, there was a strange feeling in my gut that I was doing something right and at the same time wrong but for the right reasons. Was it a right decision to make? Was I doing something good by preventing the whole debacle with Starlight? I grunted with a frown, there was no other answer other than the fact that I was doing what I have to do to ensure my own survival in the future. I wasn't heartless, I wasn't going to drop Starlight onto someone's lap and then forget about her, I took this responsibility upon myself to take care of her. One of Moony's last memories floated to the surface, the heartbroken expression on her face as she was informed that Twilight wasn't going to come to her birthday party. Yeah, there was no fucking way I was going to do something like that, Ponies were fragile and really easy to emotionally hurt when they felt as if the ground was taken from under their feet. My heart was made of steel when compared to their glass ones, I wasn't going to be the one who will shatter something that was already cracked and barely held together by pure force of will and old memories.

'Damn, this place made me sappy.' I snorted as I watched Starlight actually bowing to the crowd, I don't know what she said to them but apparently it pacified them enough for her to be able to earn at least some understanding. 'Good, she doesn't need any more negative experiences today.'

I mentally went over the list of things that I would need to work on in the nearest future, one thing was finding and killing myself a cockatrice. There were a lot of things that can be done with an Ability of Petrification on hand, I had no clue if the Skill Book will fall out of him or not but at least I would be able to cleanse the Everfree Forest from these things and make it even a little bit safer. Timberwolves were already on my shit-list, so I could just work my way through the whole population of the local critters without problems while grinding my Skills, maybe I would even be able to run into Zecora? Who knows, the whole thing would be mostly for the sake of gaining on my Levels that I obviously was missing right now. Starlight was incredably powerful, and if I wasn't an Alicorn she would've killed me right then and there with that first attack, there was really no question who was really stronger between us without the boosts provided to us by our Statuses.

The I would need to work on Gilda and Trixie, both of them were not really all that dangerous, but the first one would provide me with some insight on what the fuck was wrong with Griffins in general while the second one would need to be stopped before she would acquire the Alicorn Amulet. That fucking trinket won't survive the meeting with me, for all the trouble it caused in that one Episode it deserved to be destroyed with extreme prejudice without questions asked. I also need to find where the entrance to Tartarus is, waiting for Tirek to escape would be a gamble as I had no idea just how he managed to sneak out and if I would be able to track him down afterward. I knew that it would be a darker than what Equestria was ready for, but it was a good thing that I wasn't from here and didn't care about what they thought was appropriate and what wasn't, Tirek was going to die as he was simply too dangerous to let live. I knew that soft-balling things here would only lead to even more complications later on, he had no redeemable qualities and also only cared about himself and stealing Magic from others.

Discord? I had no clue if he even could be killed in the first place, I wasn't aware if he was actually a physical being or his own Power gave him tangible form that we all could perceive. The safest way to contain he would probably be simply draining him of his Magic, but only Tirek could do so and I would never strike a bargain with him. It left me with only one choice and that was to wait and see, and if he would be captured again then I would simply drag him to Tartarus and let Cerberus do the rest. He was labeled as 'Redeemed' and then betrayed everyone for Tirek for the sake of being a dick, or at least something like that. His motivation was kind of vague and I had no clue or desire to figure it out, there also was no guarantee that in this World he could also be turned to the side of 'Vague Good' as it happened in Canon.

My knowledge was only as useful as it could be without me solely relying on the fact that Canon will happen, many people would probably disagree and try to force it to happen solely to preserve their knowledge of the future and the events that yet to come. I didn't care about that crap, if I could change things for the better then I sure as fuck would do so in a heartbeat, and all who would try to reason that it will be wrong could just go and fuck themselves.

I glanced at the gathered crowd that was at the moment talking about something with Starlight, and I didn't see any aggression from them so far. It was good, it meant that I wouldn't need to intervene and make a point of putting her under my protection no matter how empty such a claim would actually be. I was an Alicorn, they won't question me if I would appear in suitably dramatic fashion and make it sound like a Royal Decree. But it appeared to be unneeded as Starlight bowed to them again and then vanished in a flash of Magic.

"Feeling better?" I asked without looking.

"No." She answered.

"You will, but it will take time and effort." I answered and finally looked at her. "Facing your own mistakes is never pleasant, overcoming them is never easy and moving forward is always hard. But in the end, a brighter future is what awaits us around the corner and that is the reason why we should strive to never stop."

"Philosophy, really?" She snorted bitterly.

"Either that or demented ramblings, your choice." I shrugged and walked up to her. "Are you ready?"

She nodded and a big green backpack hovered to her from near the bed, right now she was wearing something akin of a Chinese dress of the same color as her horn, white flower-like patterns and a high cut, black stockings with lace edges on suspenders, a sash of the same color as her hair and the shoes of the same color as her dress. She also put on silk dark-purple gloves that went also to her elbows.

"This is all I have with me." She said as she put her hands through the straps.

I nodded and walked up to her, without a warning I pulled her into a hug and she hugged me back without hesistation.

"Don't worry, the hardest part is already behind." I said as I deployed an Illusion Barrier.

Quest Alert
Redemption of the Misguided: Make Starlight Glimmer turn away from the Path of Destruction! - Complete!
Persuade Starlight Glimmer to abandon her Crusade against Cutie Marks and reject her Twisted Impression about Friendship.
Completion Award: 20,000 EXP; +5,000 Reputation with Starlight Glimmer
Additional Completion Award(Finish the Quest in less than 1 Hour.): 60,000 EXP; +15,000 Reputation with Starlight Glimmer

Your Level has Increased by 1.

Your Level has Increased by 1.

Your Level has Increased by 1.

Your Level has Increased by 1.

Your Level has Increased by 1.

Your Level has Increased by 1.

Your Level has Increased by 1.

You're now Honored with Starlight Glimmer.

With a flash of Magic we vanished.

The Skill [Advance Magic] has been Created through the INT rising above 150.

'This is far above what I have even imagined.' I snickered as I bench-pressed the statue that I cut down with my sword earlier. I couldn't just walk into the gym and workout so I had to improvise while also letting the girls use my Illusion Barrier. They weren't working on their own Magic just yet, they simply had no actual time to actually figure out just yet what they were going to do. Starlight's introduction went without a hitch, girls were happy to meet a new friend and someone that can tutor them in Magic without them having to fight their way through the horde of little slimes hellbent on killing them. Oh, I also made them work on their bodies by running circles around the plaza and then doing push-ups, sit-ups, and squats while they could go on and then passing them to Starlight for her to get them into gear in Magic department.

So far she was making them hold rather big pieces of buildings while meditating while trying to push their Magic to their limit. Starlight was incredibly fascinated with Illusion Barrier and borderline shocked when she saw how much bullshit it can do with it, I wasn't sure if me blasting one of the Castle's towers with a [Cero] to prove that nobody was present but was an overkill or not. I could see with [Observe] that she wasn't yet still all that comfortable with the fact that Minuette, Shine and Lemon were so acceptable of her, but with time she was opening up little by little. I suggested for her to simply sit this one out and not participate so she could get her head around the change of scenery, but apparently Minuette and Shine had other plans and pulled her into the discussion about Magic and how the books that I 'liberated' from the old ruins were rare and priceless relics of the past.

I didn't know what came out of that discussion as I simply tuned them out, the variation of a girl-talk that just replaced boys with books wasn't something I could honestly participate with a straight face. Starlight was shocked when she saw some of the tomes that I pulled out of my Inventory, the one about Conceptual Magic that apparently was considered a lost knowledge among the Unicorns made her literally gape at me for ten seconds flat. Well, there were some small speed-bumps on the way, like when she finished telling girls about the whole mess with the town and her taking away other's Cutie Marks... Well, the blank stares that the girls were giving her made her really uncomfortable and she was ready to back away before Lemon just marched to her and pulled the taller girl into a hug, called her an idiot for thinking that they would reject her and then dragged towards my kitchen to have tea with apples that they collected from the dead Porings. When Starlight asked them why they trusted her so after hearing what she had done it was Shine who actually spoke up.

"Well, Moony trusts you and you feel bad about what you did and isn't going to do so again. You fixed everything in the end and want to change and be friends with us, so there really no problem!"

Minuette was a bit more crude about it.

"And you had an awesome fight with Moony! I would've given up my tickets to the Daring Do Convention just to see your fight! It was probably with a lot of explosions and Magic and clashes of Spell against the Sword..."

... That went for some time until Lemon just shoved an apple into her mouth to shut her up.

Next ten hours we spent talking about all the crazy things that happened during my little trip, girls were running laps around the plaza while Starlight was doing her own set of exercises and I was using a huge metallic statue instead of a barbell. My aim was to reach the fifty in STR and VIT to get at least some Bonuses out of it so I would be prepared for my trip to Tartarus, Illusion Barrier may give me a way in and a way out but actually facing down Tirek will require some serious firepower even in his weakened state. I wasn't going to risk it and was going to get myself all the metaphorical ammunition I could get myself until then, the sooner I will do it the sooner I would be able to put one of the major threats to me and my friends six feet under.

Through the Great Strain of your Stamina your VIT has Increased by 1.

The Skill [Natural Body] has been Created through the VIT rising above 50.

Through the Heavy Work-Out your STR has Increased by 1.

The Skill [Monstrous Strength] has been Created through the STR rising above 50.

'Tirek won't survive his attempt to escape the Tartarus.' I grimaced as I pushed myself harder to get some burning into my muscles, nothing could be left to chance here.

Author's Notes:

A/N: Here is the New Chapter! I made sure to write Starlight as close to Canon as I could without actually making her as wimpy as she became after Twilight brainwashed her. Please tell me if it was unbelievable or I managed to get her right here, but please don't forget that she's several years before her Canonical emergence and therefore she isn't as strong or isn't as attached to her little Fake World as she was when Twilight decided to come in and piss all over it without actually figuring things out.